The Children’s Home in Winston-Salem to cut 79 positions, close 3 programs

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The Children’s Home in Winston-Salem is cutting 79 positions and closing three programs, after saying changes in the way Medicare funds mental health programs left them without enough children to make the programs financially feasible.

The Children’s Home CEO Maurice Ware said Thursday that in December the PTRF or Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility as well as the Level 3 Group Home and the Peek-A-Moo Daycare will close.

“It’s all affected by the services that state is willing to provide and pay for. You feel helpless, as we know we provide a great service hands down but at the end of the day even though we are nonprofit we have to act as a business and abide by the same rules,” said Ware.

About 20 children take part in the two residential programs and staff promised to make sure they find adequate care before closing the programs. There are 28 children at the daycare.

“Based on the current state of mental health funding in North Carolina we were simply faced with a tough decision and it came down to economics,” said Ware.

Employees will work till the children in the programs are placed in new treatment centers. They will receive job relocation services and help.

The Children’s Home will continue to provide its substance abuse programs, emergency shelter, adoption and foster care programs, animal therapy, and alternative school. Even after the cuts more than 170 children will still depend on the services at the agency.

The Children’s Home was founded in 1909 by Western North Carolina Methodists to support orphan children and those without proper support and family help. Over time it has grown to offer several different programs and helped more than 8,000 different families in the state.